(Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp will reduce global production for September by 40% from its previous plan due to the worldwide shortage of semiconductors, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.

The automaker had been aiming to make a little under 900,000 cars, but has reduced that to about 500,000, according to the report https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Toyota-to-cut-September-global-production-by-40-from-previous-plan.

Toyota had no immediate response to a request for comment.

A resurgence in COVID-19 cases has disrupted parts supplies and production at car companies, compounding a months-long pandemic-fuelled chip crunch.

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Toyota, the world’s largest automaker by sales volumes, said his month it was facing an unpredictable business environment due to fresh COVID-19 cases in emerging countries, semiconductor shortage, and soaring material prices.

(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru and Sayantani Ghosh in Singapore and Maki Shiraki in Tokyo; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Edwina Gibbs)